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Daemen University Athletics

Western New York's Premier Division II Team
Fearless, Integrity, Effort, Respect, Commitment, Excitement
wvb team celebrate
Bob Blanchard
1
Stonehill STO 21-10,10-3 NE10
3
Winner Daemen DAE 24-7,12-0 ECC
Stonehill STO
21-10,10-3 NE10
1
Final
3
Daemen DAE
24-7,12-0 ECC
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Stonehill STO 25 22 20 20 (1)
Daemen DAE 21 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | CONTACT: Mike Miranto, Sr. Associate A.D. for Communications/Operations | 716-839-8385 | mmiranto@daemen.edu

Wildcats Ground Skyhawks, Advance To Regional Finals

Albano records 100th career win, leads team to "Sweet 16" for second time

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - For the second time in program history, the Daemen Wildcats will compete for a regional championship. Second-seeded Daemen picked up a 3-1 victory over the third-seeded Stonehill Skyhawks in the NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball East Regional semifinals this evening at Henry A. Butova Gymnasium on the campus of American International College. In the process, Daemen head coach Stephanie Albano earned the 100th win of her career. 

Daemen will head to the regional finals as winners in 11 straight and 20 of their last 22 matches, improving to 24-7 overall with tonight's win. They'll face top-seeded American International which advanced to the regional finals with a straight sets sweep of fifth-seeded Holy Family in tonight's second semifinal. It marks a rematch of the 2016 East Regional finals. 

Albano becomes just the second coach in team history to reach the century mark. She joins Mark Parisi who recorded 151 wins during a 10-year tenure (2005-14). 

Daemen won for just the fourth time this season when dropping the opening set. The Wildcats led 17-12 before Stonehill embarked on a furious 13-4 run. The Skyhawks took their first lead of the set at 19-18 following a Daemen hitting error. They extended to a 24-20 advantage on a service ace by Carly Russell and later closed the set with a kill by Basia Peragine. 

Daemen came back and dominated the early portions of the second set, building a 17-4 lead. Sam Logan (Eden, N.Y.) and Amelia Armstrong (River Falls, Wisc.) put down multiple kills and Mickaley Monahan (Saline, Mich.) recorded two of her four service aces in the run. But, Stonehill managed to battle back, pulling within 22-20 thanks to a 16-5 run that at one point included eight unanswered points. Daemen fended off the rally and evened the match when Armstrong put down a kill for their 25th point of the set.

Stonehill's blockers proved problematic for the Wildcats, especially early in the match. The Skyhawks totaled 12 blocks in the match, including eight in the first two sets.

The pivotal third set opened up as a nip-and-tuck affair until Daemen used a 5-1 spurt to open up a 14-10 lead. Olivia Alessi (East Aurora, N.Y.), Vanessa Kuliga (Glenview, Ill.) and Logan all posted kills in the run. Stonehill came back to even the score at 19-19, prompting a Daemen timeout. The Wildcats emerged and got a back row kill by Caitlyn Meyer (Clarence, N.Y.) to spark a set-ending 6-1 run. The Skyhawks committed three straight hitting errors, allowing Daemen to seize control of the match.

Daemen trailed 17-13 in the fourth, but came alive with an 8-2 run. Logan recorded a pair of kills in the run, including the go-ahead point as Daemen took a 21-20 lead. With the score 21-20 in Daemen's favor, Logan, Meyer and Kuliga came up with consecutive kills to put the Wildcats on the brink of victory. A Stonehill hitting error ended the match. 

Daemen recorded 49 kills in the match, including 17 in the clinching fourth set. Stonehill ended its season with a 22-10 overall record. 

IMPACT PLAYERS
  • Logan led the way for the Wildcats, recording her fourth straight double-double. She finished with 14 kills and 12 digs and has now totaled eight of her 15 career double-doubles this season. 
  • Alessi also double up, recording her team-leading 14th double-double of the season. The sophomore setter finished with 34 assists and 17 digs.
  • Sophomore defensive specialist Jasmine Brundage (East Aurora, N.Y.) had another fine performance as she shared match-high honors with 18 digs. 
  • Meyer finished with 11 kills and nine digs. She's had 10 or more kills in 23 of 31 matches this season.
  • Burns contributed eight kills and 15 digs, while Daemen's middles - Kuliga and Armstrong - combined for 13 kills, four blocks and a .367 hitting percentage
  • Jentry Allen (12 kills), Abby Remick (nine kills, 10 digs) and Carly Russell (18 digs) led the Skyhawks in defeat. Middles Lauren McCloskey and Clare Feeman combined for 11 kills and 10 blocks.

GAME NOTES
  • Daemen improved to 4-2 all-time in NCAA tournament play. The Wildcats are making the third NCAA tournament appearance in program history (2016, 2018, 2021). Daemen's deepest tournament run came in 2016 when they advanced to the regional finals.
  • This is the first NCAA Division II Women's Volleyball Championship to be held since 2019. The tournament was wiped out in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The winner of this weekend's East Regional advances to the Elite Eight to be held Dec. 9-11 in Tampa, Fla. 
  • With todays win, Daemen improves to 19-3 against East Region opponents this season. Since the 2016 season, Daemen is 83-29 against East Region opponents.
  • Daemen improved to 2-0 all-time against Stonehill. Both of their wins came this season and both were four-set affairs. The previous Daemen win came on Sept. 18 as part of the Redhawks Classic hosted by Roberts Wesleyan College. 
  • The Wildcats have reached the 20-win plateau for the 12th time in program history, as well as the third time as an NCAA program. Daemen's 24 wins are the most in a season since 2016 when they finished with a 25-8 record. 
  • Daemen's 11-match win streak is the program's longest since rattling off 15 in a row during the 2016 season when they also advanced to the regional finals, also known as the "Sweet 16."

UP NEXT
The East Regional finals is set for 5 p.m. Saturday (Dec. 4). The match will be available via live stream on the NE10 Now Digital Network. 

Daemen College features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 18 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen College women's volleyball program on Twitter and Instagram at @DaemenWVB.
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